"The marquee event [at this year's Roots Picnic - June 6, 2009 in Philly] was Public Enemy's performance of their epochal 1988 album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, performed for only the third - and, they have said, the last - time on American soil, and the first time with a band.

Public Enemy's Chuck D famously called rap music African Americans' CNN, an analogy that bodes ill for the exhumation of a 20-year-old album. But fueled by an expanded Roots lineup that included a horn section from the Brooklyn-based Afrobeat orchestra Antibalas, Nation sounded like anything but old news. Chuck D's stentorian voice has lost none of its power to command, and Flavor Flav washed away years of reality-TV embarrassment, seeming more like a sharp-witted jester than a fool.

Rather than approximating Nation's sonic thicket, the Roots added melody and depth. The prison-riot saga "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" gained a funk guitar riff and blaring horns, with ?uestlove's snare hits ringing out like rifle shots.
[Philadelpha Inquirer]

Sounds exciting. Then again, I've seen PE live about five times in the last ten years and only one of those shows wasn't completely mailed-in. Here's hoping they've rediscovered a bit of their early-career passion, because the rhyming over a pre-recorded track schtick was getting old.

the black keys equipment was messed up- the lead singer even said 'i had a nightmare like this once' b/c first his mic went and then his amp... tv on the radio killed it! but after that long PE performance, most people in the audience were just ready to leave... it was a long day

Awesome show. PE was great. Contrary to what some other sites said they were backed by Roots AND Antibalas. (Roots dont have a horn section ..duh)
I dont know why TV on the radio and Black keys were on the bill. They totally seemed like they got lost on the way to the Vans warped tour or something.
But thats just my jaded opinion.
Uptight people in NYC, round trip on a jitney was only $20. Nothing compared to the $50 ticket right!